4 players with Utah ties taken in second-day MLB draft

Twenty-nine rounds into the second day of the Major League Baseball First-Year Player draft, a player with Utah ties finally got his name called.

Former Pleasant Grove High and College of Southern Nevada left-hander Eagon Smith was taken as the 29th pick of the 35th round by the Cleveland Indians.

The first six rounds of the draft were held Thursday.

He was the first of four players with Utah ties selected on the second day, bringing the total to six players selected — the fewest since 1995 when only five were taken.

BYU teammates Sean McNaughton and Kent Walton were taken by the Chicago Cubs (38th) and the Oakland Athletics (42nd), respectively, while Judge Memorial's Joe Pond was the only Utah high-schooler taken. He went in the 39th round to the Philadelphia Phillies.

Utah's Stephen Fife was taken by the Boston Red Sox in the third round and Viewmont's Braeden Schlehuber via College of Southern Nevada was taken in the fourth round on the first day.